3.3 Facilitating and Supporting the BPEO

3.3.1 Cost of Implementing the BPEO 

A key consideration when awarding public funding to achieve BPEO performance targets is value for money and affordability.  Whilst estimated costings have been developed by the Lothian and Borders Waste Management Project Team, this detail will not be published in the BPEO.  The release of financial information relating to a waste treatment option would allow companies interested in tendering for provision of waste management facilities to view these figures and therefore may give them an unfair competitive advantage during bidding and negotiation processes with Local Authorities.  This could result in Local Authorities paying more than they would have originally anticipated.  Therefore information has been withheld because there is a strong public interest in avoiding artificially inflated costs to the public purse.

3.3.2 BPEO Employment Opportunities

As the BPEO no longer specifies waste technologies, and therefore the degree of automation built into the waste facilities, it is difficult to estimate the potential impact on employment opportunities as a result of residual waste facilities in the area.  However, any modern residual waste treatment facility will require the input of a number of skilled personnel both during the short term procurement and construction stages and throughout the ongoing operation of the treatment facilities

Through the optimisation of waste prevention initiatives and recycling and composting (pre sorted) activities further employment opportunities for the community recycling sector may be available.   

3.3.3 Recycling Market Development

It is clear that if Scotland is to make better progress in recycling and the targets within the BPEO are to be achieved, significant effort must be made to develop both national and local markets using recycled materials. Progress can also be made in improving the logistics of supply to markets outside Scotland. The UK national WRAP (Waste Resources Action Programme) and ReMaDe (Recycling Market Development) programmes have been established to promote sustainable waste management through the creation of stable markets for recycled materials and products and by removing barriers to waste minimisation, reuse and recycling. The stability of markets is out with the Waste Strategy Area Group’s control.

The ReMaDe Scotland (Recycling Market Development www.remade.org.uk) programme was established in 1999 to identify potential markets and uses for recovered materials in Scotland. It is the key focal point for recycling market development in Scotland and is seeking to increase recovery of waste, create jobs, support the Area Waste Plan and local recycling businesses through encouraging investment, supporting local partnerships and engaging in wider awareness in uses of recovered materials.

WRAP (Waste Resource Action Programme www.wrap.org.uk) is a UK-wide programme funded (established in 2001) to change attitudes to waste minimisation and recycling through the creation of stable and efficient markets for recycled materials and products. The programme is looking at material-specific research and development projects, compost standards, delivering training programmes and government procurement. WRAP is working closely with ReMaDe and other organisations, addressing barriers to recycling including market development; supply chain issues, investment packages to reduce business risk in new technologies and processes, and is supporting the development of recycling infrastructure.

The Waste Strategy Area Group will continue to support local applications to WRAP and other market development grant funding.

The development of local recycling markets has the potential to bring local economic opportunities to the area. This is a particular area in which the local enterprise network have a key role in forward development.

3.3.4 Education and Awareness Raising

The National Waste Strategy: Scotland makes it clear that there needs to be a fundamental shift in attitudes and behaviour of all waste producers in Scotland. There must be an integrated effort on promotion and education to ensure that both householders and businesses are fully aware of the objectives of the Area Waste Plan and have an opportunity to contribute, particularly to the proposed waste recycling and recovery arrangements, and waste minimisation initiatives.

The Waste Strategy Area Group is clear that the key element to effecting change in waste management is to improve awareness and attitudes to waste. This was reinforced by the consultation responses where the fundamental awareness of what happens to waste after it is collected is very low. Any future educational campaigns are, therefore, starting from the very basic level and will be co-ordinated through the Lothian and Borders Waste Aware working group – a multi-stakeholder group of the key partners that can deliver waste awareness at the local level.

The Lothian and Borders Waste Aware Group will plan and facilitate public awareness campaigns throughout the area, closely linked to local service and infrastructure development. The campaigns will be delivered through close working with the Scottish Waste Awareness Group (SWAG) and in partnership with key stakeholders, including the Local Authorities, SEPA, the private waste industry sector and Non-Governmental Organisations. All local campaigns will also link in with those being undertaken across Scotland to ensure consistency of campaigning messages and maximise educational impact.

The “Waste Aware Lothian and Borders” programme will work towards changing public attitudes and behaviour towards domestic waste management. A baseline survey was conducted during summer 2001 as part of the phase one consultation on the AWP options, when a total of 1250 householders were interviewed on their current waste practices. The findings of this survey will be crucial in developing effective promotional materials, informing project development and tailoring services to local needs.

A further national survey was completed between April 2005 and March 2006 which assessed how public attitudes and behaviour towards domestic waste management had changed since 2001 and the implementation of some recycling infrastructure

The findings of both of these surveys will be crucial in developing effective promotional materials, informing project development and tailoring services to local needs.

Campaigns will focus on a specific waste management issues for the Waste Strategy Area and run concurrently with the implementation of the Lothian and Borders Area Waste Plan.

They will comprise of three basic stages:

1. Before survey – to assess attitudes and behaviour towards the identified waste minimisation issue prior to the intervention strategy.

2. Campaign – intensive localised intervention strategy run initially for a 6-month period working in partnership with the WSAG, Local Authorities, retailers, private waste industry, local community and voluntary groups.

3. After survey – to assess attitudes and behaviour towards the identified waste minimisation issue after the intervention strategy and to appraise the effectiveness of the different campaign methods employed.

This format will allow the monitoring of progress towards waste prevention, development of good practice models and best value for changing public attitudes to waste reduction, reuse and recycling. The process also aims to engage stakeholders in assessing local waste management challenges and involve them in developing viable solutions.

The Councils within the Lothian and Borders Area presently deliver a host of local public information services with the aim of increasing environmental awareness, sustainable development, improved health and citizenship. There is potential for the Waste Strategy Area Group to link up with these initiatives and promote the understanding of these issues through participation in local projects.

For example:

The Eco Schools Programme is an award scheme, which recognises participating schools that have made a commitment to and are working towards improving their environmental performance. It is also a learning resource, raising awareness and understanding of complex issues through activities that link to curriculum subjects.

Today’s children are future householders and resource consumers. Through targeting education and awareness in schools throughout the Lothian and Borders, good practice can be ingrained within the culture of future adults. There are many opportunities to integrate waste minimisation and recycling into curriculum activities through both theoretical and practical subjects. Local Authorities have a key role in ensuring schools are supported in developing and integrating these subject areas. The Scottish Government Education Department have adopted the Eco Schools programme as a performance measure for one of their national priorities in education: National Priority 4 – Values and Citizenship.

The community sector is also fundamental in the local delivery of education and awareness campaigns promoting the reduce, reuse and recycle message.  An example within the Lothian and Borders area is the work of Changeworks (formerly Lothian and Edinburgh Environmental Partnership (LEEP)) who are also members of the Waste Strategy Area Group. This Not-for-Profit organisation carries out a range of waste prevention and recycling initiatives in the area that are supported by initiatives such as educational visits to schools and the printing and circulation of the “Too Good To Waste” guide of practical ways to reduce, reuse and recycle. All future campaigns will be linked into and build on the work of active community groups in the area.

The development of new infrastructure as part of the BPEO implementation presents an ideal opportunity to raise awareness of waste issues and increase understanding of the complexities of managing waste.

It is recognised that there is already a great deal of information and guidance available to raise awareness of waste-related issues. With the production of further materials associated with local campaigns, it is essential that the communication of such information is accessible to all.

3.3.5 Community Involvement

The current and future role of the community recycling sector in Scotland cannot be underestimated both in terms of helping to achieve landfill diversion targets and also in terms of training, employment and urban regeneration. This sector delivers frontline services. Community groups also provide employment and training opportunities, and provides work-training placements for the long-term unemployed and people with special needs.

In recognition of the growing importance of this sector, a Scottish Community Recycling Network, was established. The key objectives of this network are to provide support and advice to the existing and developing community groups across Scotland as well as addressing issues of concern. The network will also seek to identify individual groups, highlight best practice and promote long-term sustainability within the sector.

The Network proposes a mechanism for delivering local support and information dissemination. These local networks will be run as part of the national framework but will benefit from a shared pool of resources, knowledge and experience. A local structure will focus on:

identifying the active community groups in any given area and their respective levels of operation and coverage

• providing regular meetings and surgeries to workshop ideas and practices
• helping identify new groups and projects
• providing capacity building, business and project planning advice
• assisting in identifying and applying for funding
• acting as a liaison between community groups and Local Authorities, SEPA, private sector.

3.4 Future BPEO Developments

Any proposed changes to the management of municipal waste in the Lothian and Borders must represent the BPEO for the area. Any change to the published BPEO requires an alteration of the AWP.  AWP alterations are subject to Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) under the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes (Scotland) Regulations 2005.  

Future AWP revisions will fall under the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 which replaces the Regulations, but as the current alterations were commenced prior to February 2006, the previous legislation continues to apply.